"Stop this progressive discourse," a prominent intellectual on the Israeli left told me. She is a significant thinker, a prolific and fluent writer, and she is also a prominent and dedicated member of the protest movement. "Enough with that," she urged, "there are no privileged people here who are lined up against the weak and excluded who just want to get a slice of the pie," she explains. So what is? "There is a real war here against a populist wave that threatens liberal values and the democratic structure of Israel. That's all."
We had a pleasant conversation, which ended without results. I promised to get back to her about something else, and I didn't do it in time. I will ask her for forgiveness in ten days. For not coming back, and also for using her words as an illustration of the surreal phenomenon that made my year.
Right-wing demonstration, photo: AP
Everything is like in a surreal picture
How strange can the political rift in Israel be? Our right and left are connected by political and strategic perceptions, not by economic issues, as is customary in the rest of the world. Socialist left, capitalist right. Now we've reached such an absurd level that the left gets really angry when someone throws out a word about inequality. A rightist was reprimanded by a leftist for daring to point out a social hierarchy. "Enough with that." What springs to mind is the derogatory term "progressive." Why should we talk about "privileged" versus "disadvantaged"? Put this terminology in a drawer, don't import ideas from America.
When is it not progressive to harshly criticize the power relations in Israel? When you can blame the rightists, that is, the fascist government and Benjamin Netanyahu. For example, in "Jewish supremacy" vis-à-vis Arabs, or in "racism" toward infiltrators, or in stronghold "homophobia."
Oh, and also in the political exploitation of Mizrahim: because what is this manipulative Likud doing? Fans feelings of deprivation in order to rake in political capital. I swear to you that the following words, from which the stench of racism emanates, was recently published by a respected journalist in a respected newspaper: "He [Netanyahu] and the right have worked on fostering stupidity for more than 30 years in power. They built a stable base of ignorant and dependent voters, invented enemies for them, lied to them and made them believe that it was not the government that was to blame for their situation, but the 'elites,' the 'Ashkenazim' and the 'media.'" Then they will say that the rift hurts them and why the split.
The 15th High Court of Justice, photo: Olivier Fitoussi
The issue is not only the political and social racism against the "Darbukas" and "Shabtayim" who will never be recognized as citizens with consciousness and outlook, but always as a herd walking with their eyes closed. The issue is this paternalistic frown that someone dared to say a word about power relations in Israel without the permission of the landlords. In today's Israel, the privilege of criticizing elites is reserved only for elites. Admit it's just wonderful. Welcome out of the 2022-2023 Marquise Ball - it will continue for your enjoyment in 2024 as well.
Next year, too, people who are terribly concerned about human and civil rights abuses will cheer in the squares for former Mossad and Shin Bet officials, who have made a career out of strict adherence to human rights in basements and interrogation rooms. Next year, too, people who want a vibrant and free civil society will march in demonstrations wearing matching shirts after generals and pilots.
Next year, too, people with social justice signs will carry tycoons, exit stars, bank CEOs and the myriad string-pullers of capitalism who once called it "piggy." And next year, too, people with a well-developed social conscience will continue to defend with unprecedented fervor centers of power such as the Supreme Court or the top echelons of Israeli academia, which somehow, just by chance, you will find in them incredibly homogeneous and fluorescent human material. Is it the fault of Esther Hayut and Aharon Barak, this human composition? No, it's the invisible hand.
Ohana repeats his statement at the same time as the High Court hearing: "The Knesset will not accept its trampling" // Photo: Tena Communications
But what power relations now have to do with it, don't be progressive. So it turns out, by chance, again by chance, that the economic elite is pulling the strings of protest. So it turns out that the security elite is standing there. So it turns out that the cultural, literary, academic, media, legal elite are all on barricades. Why say that these are "elites" and "media" who have come out against the political choice of the popular strata? Do you mean to say that there is a class interest here? Nonsense. There is only concern here for democracy and liberal values.
May it be a year of compromise and democracy
The Israeli elite and its supporters in the established strata – from Ramat Aviv and Raanana to the kibbutzim of the valley – have been under a critical magnifying glass in recent years. One calls it "stationary and mobile," the other calls it "First and Second Israel," and all the others point to a lack of ethnic diversity in courts and faculties, stereotypical representation in culture, symbiosis in capital-security relations, and gaps in prestige and social status.
And the past year has brought this spectacular pendulum movement to a climax, precisely because everything was suddenly so exposed. For years, Israeli elites and their supporters have been vigorously denying their relative superiority in social relations, and react angrily when someone points to the inherent advantage of access to material and cultural resources, access to public opinion and decision-making centers. Alas for those who say "privileged" or "elite". Woe to those who point to the overlap between class and cultural advantage and ethnicity. Woe betide those who dare to "raise their hand" and try to make amends. Change. Compare.
Mock display of the pilots' protest in Tel Aviv, photo: Coco
Are we facing a social protest from below, against an oppressive government? Is there a bloody rift between two parts of a people that have no common denominator left between them? I believe these are smokescreens, so I'm optimistic. I believe that we have before us a simple, banal case of an elite struggling to maintain its class advantage in its last fortresses. And it does not struggle against those who want to destroy it, but rather it shuts itself off against those who want to enter its destruction as partners. I wish its people would become progressives again. May 2024 be for all of us, indeed all of us, a year of compromise and democracy.
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